Novel Farm Development Trial with PEPINO By Gianni Prencipe 2010 Page 1
Acknowledgements This work was funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology under contract to Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu (TRoNT). 1 TRoNT is the elected tribal authority representing the people of Ngāi Tahu, a tribe of New Zealand Māori indigenous to Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island of New Zealand). TRoNT is contracted by Otago University to conduct the He Whenua Whakatipu research project as one of the objectives within the Agricultural Research Group on Sustainability (ARGOS). 2 ARGOS is an unincorporated joint venture between the Agribusiness Group Ltd, Lincoln University and the University of Otago. ARGOS has the task of exploring the environmental, social and economic sustainability of New Zealand farming systems and is funded by the Foundation of Research, Science and Technology, a New Zealand government agency. 3 ARGOS also acknowledges in-kind support from Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The information in this report is accurate to the best of the knowledge and belief of the author(s) acting on behalf of the ARGOS Team. The author(s) have exercised all reasonable skill and care in the preparation of information in this report. 1 http://www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz 2 http://www.argos.org.nz 3 http://www.frst.govt.nz Page 2
Introduction This brief report gives an overview of the He Whenua Whakatipu field trial with growing pepino plants and the subsequent attempts at creating novel developments from the fruit of the plant in 2010. These novel developments include pepino fruit sauce, macerated pepino, pepino relish, spiced green pepino sauce and pepino chutney along with other examples of how to utilise pepino. Pepino Background Family: Solanaceae Species: Solanum muricatum Common names: Mellow fruit, tree melon, melon pear, sweet cucumber and melon shrub. Origin: One of the so called lost crops of the Incas that is native to Colombia, Peru and Chile. It has not been recorded occurring naturally or in the wild so that it s exact origins remain unknown. Description: Pepino comes from the same family as tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums. It has leaves resembling those plants and if left un-pruned grows into a low dense bush and has more a scrambling nature like a determinate tomato: This can make the picking of the fruit difficult and also makes it easy to damage the plant. The fruit can take a long time to ripen and because it is lying on the ground it has got a higher risk of fungus and insect damage. However, in my opinion by using black plastic mulch most of these issues could be overcome. Page 3
Pepino cuttings planted on the 28-10-2009. These plants were well watered and weeded, but had no extra organic fertiliser or pest control used on them. The first flowers were only seen on the 17th of December. This was mainly due to the very poor spring we experienced as the mean temperature for November, December and January was well below average until mid-february. The first fruit only started forming in the middle of January 2010. Page 4
Photographs of pepino fruit propped up on stones placed to support fruit. Page 5
Photograph of insect damage from the native flat worm, a slug and leaf vein slug from the field trial. Cultivation Observations and Future Recommendations If one wants to cultivate these on a broad acre scale then black plastic mulch would be advisable, this in combination with drip-tape irrigation should provide pepino fruit from January right until the first frost. This will be trialled next season. Bird protection needs to be put in place before the winter cold sets in as many birds relish pepino as a winter snack and the damage can be seen in the photograph below. The wax eyes and field sparrows were the first to find the pepino fruit quickly followed by blackbirds. Page 6
Another way of cultivating them is to take cuttings in early autumn, have these well rooted and remove all laterals. These will be overwintered in a propagating unit so the frost does not kill them so that they can be planted out in late September or early October in a protected environment. These plants will be treated the same way as an indeterminate tomato. This process will be used to as part of a new trial in the next growing season of 2010-2011. The pepino variety El Camino was the most productive and produced fruit weighing up to 750 grams each and had a sweet melon flavour that was of very high quality: The pepino variety Pepino Incredible Ruby produced fruit weighing up to 600 grams, but these did not ripen as quickly as the El Camino variety and as such it was difficult to observe when they were ready for picking. This fruit tasted more like honey dew than cantaloupe and they did not get eaten by the birds at all. This variety also expresses itself in a diverse size range that could make it more difficult to market as shown in the photographs below. Page 7
Value Added Novel Developments Pepino Chutney Ingredients: 3kg of pepino 2 small onions 1 small capsicum red 1 small capsicum green 2 cloves of garlic Tablespoon of coriander Teaspoon of peppercorns Teaspoon of mustard seeds Whole small chillies (for in the jar) 1 cup of apple cider vinegar 2 cups of white vinegar 2 cups of sugar Method: Wash, peel and cut pepino into small cubes (discard seeds) while keeping as much of the juice as possible. Make a vinegar liquid by first stir frying garlic, onion and capsicums then extinguish with sugar without letting it colour. Pitch with vinegar, add spices and reduce to half, or make gastrique without caramelizing sugar first. Add pepino, bring to boil, ladle into clean hot jars arranging chilli in them as desired. Keep for 3 months to allow the ingredients to interact. Great with roasts (e.g. ham). Spiced Green Pepino Sauce Ingredients: 3 kg of green pepino s 2 large onions 3 garlic cloves 1 green capsicum Teaspoon of peppercorns (mortared) Salt to taste 6 large green chillies (remove seeds) 1 cup of vinegar 1 cup of sugar Method: Sauté onion, garlic, capsicum, add green chillies (don t brown) add remaining ingredients, boil down to half, put though a food processor and Page 8
bottle. This sauce is delicious with wedges. Pepino Relish Ingredients: 1kg of green pepinos 1kg of ripe pepinos 1meduim green capsicum 1 onion Teaspoon of coriander seeds Teaspoon of pepper corns Teaspoon of mustard seeds Pinch of dill seeds 2 cups of white vinegar 1 cup of sugar In each jar place a small chilli and sprig of fennel. Method Make brine by combining all ingredients except pepino, reduce to half amount and then add pepino. Pour the resulting mixture into hot clean jars. Macerated Pepino Ah my favourite! Ideally served to break a meal after the main dish. Like a sorbet and this would be nice over a lemon sorbet, but I prefer it on its own in a shot glass. Method Wash, peel and remove seeds. Cut into desired size pieces, pack into clean jars and add a liqueur of choice. In this instance gin was used. Page 9
Fresh pepino can also be served in a number of simple, but delicious ways, for example, on a plate with other fruit: Pepino Fruit Sauce 250 grams of pepino put in blender, slowly add ½ tin of condensed milk and the juice of 1 small lemon. Then pour over any slightly acid fruit e.g. kiwi fruit, orange, pineapple, yellow tamarillo, granny smith s apple etc. and serve. Fruit Salad Mix equal amounts of pasion fruit with ripe pepino, drizzle with lime or lemon for a refreshing summer dessert or afternoon snack. It was noted by one of the case study participants that pepino is also delicious in a normal green salad. Decoration Pepino fruit can also be placed in a bowl as a visual display, especially the heart shaped purple variety. Page 10